Joan of Arc (1948)

A bit of a monstrosity. Ingrid Bergman naturally possesses a face capable of beautiful suffering, and when she then also chooses a character whose boundless suffering will ultimately lead to the stake, martyrdom, and canonization, it really becomes a bit too much. The beautiful scene in which her Joan recognizes the real Dauphin is the highlight of the film, but when she subsequently has to lead the soldiers in their attack on the English fort at Orléans, her fiery exhortations come across as laughable rather than inspiring, and the film recovers only with great difficulty from that knockout blow. Compensations come in the form of occasional effective performances, such as John Emery as the Dauphin's genuinely concerned cousin, Francis L. Sullivan as the ruthless Bishop of Beauvais, and José Ferrer in his debut film as the hesitant Dauphin, whose disappearance from the film halfway through is truly a flaw in the script. In any case, the scheming at the French court is actually more interesting than the war scenes, but the ordeal of the last half hour does make up for it somewhat. Not really bad, but it simply lacks the spirituality and cinematic flair to make the grandeur and inspiration of the Maid of Orléans palpable.

Translated from Dutch · View original

Ingrid Bergman was already considerably older than Joan of Arc ever became, but she plays the role well. She certainly possesses that dramatic quality and lends the lead the necessary charisma. The film attempts to cram the heroine's entire life into a film that is far too long. Due to the many events, the heavy focus on dialogue, and the large number of characters, the film quickly feels tedious. Especially that focus on dialogue, because we are mainly shown characters with, in my opinion, too little attention paid to the background or the atmosphere. It feels more theatrical than ever. Bergman does make up for some of it, but I still hope to see a better Joan of Arc film than this one.

Translated from Dutch · View original